Rangoon creeper

I don't remember seeing a Rangoon creeper (Quisqualis indica) around here, but I came across this one this afternoon while taking Sparky (the dog) for a bike run.

It's a big, vigorous vine, as the second pic illustrates, but it certainly is beautiful, and has a pleasant, light fragrance. The flowers start out white, change to pink, eventually becoming a deep red.

The strange thing was that as I continued the run, I came across four more (okay, three were in close proximity).  One of them was growing up a dead tree on the right of way, and there were lots of easily-removed suckers nearby. Guess what I'm going to do tomorrow?

Flaming flame vine

I wonder how this plant got its common name??

Inspired by fellow South Florida blogger, TOG of Coral Gables who posted pix of a hedge of flame vine (Pyrostegia venusta), I'm posting pix I took at Fairchild Garden this week. Generally, I'm not a fan of orange flowers, but this was a stunning sight.

The vine is native to Brazil and is vigorous enough to smother trees, so it needs to be con

trolled, but, as TOG's photos show, it makes a nice hedge, too.